India creates history..!!

India had traditionally been known to be vulnerable away from home, with a bowling which lacked enough punch to take 20 wickets in a test and batsmen who awkwardly revolved around repeated gutsy knocks by Tendulkar and played second fiddle to him... When India toured Australia in 1999-2000, the commentators at Channel Nine (Bill Lawry, Tony Greig et. al.) named the Indian team "Tendulkar Ganguly"... as these were the only 2 players who withstood the ravaging pigeon called McGrath and the wizardry of Warne... Come 2003, and things seemed hardly changed. This was despite a team which showed its class with a record breaking win against England in the Natwest Series, followed that up with Test victories against West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and England away from home, and reaching the finals of cricket's biggest event... and helping such onlookers was India's below par performance at home against New Zealand and Australia earlier this year. They were written off even before the series started... and the warm-up games didn't help their cause either... After all, what could a bunch of men who thrived on slow low tracks at home have done to the might of the Aussies at their own backyard... But for once, the answer was different. Rahul Dravid did what the flamboyant Laras and meticulous Kallis'es could not do... A puny Agarkar accomplished what the prodigious Wasim Akrams and the giant Donalds could not accomplish.. After Melbourne, February 1981, the newspapers would again read a similar headline.. only that, this time its Adelaide. When the world least expected, India handed over the Aussies the unique distinction of being the first side in 110 years to lose a Test match after scoring 500+ in the first innings... Hats off to John Wright, who started his coaching career with a sedate test series against Sri Lanka and went on to stop Australia's 17-test winning streak in India and has peaked by questioning the Aussie domination at their own backyward. Saurav Ganguly, deserves praise for the way he has handled this team after taking over the mantle from Tendulkar. His courage and leadership qualities make him stand-out as one of India's finest captains. One could perceive an over-confident arrogance in the Aussie camp when they came out to start every inning. But looking back, they would only be licking their wounds hoping to salvage some of the lost pride at home... India may not go on to win the next 2 matches, but this victory is enough to give the Aussies a few sleepless nights lamenting on what could have been... and reinstate the rightful place of this Indian team in world cricket...!!